Birthday gathering becomes memorial to crash victims

Tuesday

Jul 23, 2013 at 6:00 AMJul 23, 2013 at 8:36 PM

By Scott J. Croteau TELEGRAM & GAZETTE STAFF

WORCESTER — Food cooked on a grill and white balloons surrounded a birthday cake as friends gathered in Green Hill Park Monday to celebrate the birthday of one person and the lives of a couple. But the gatherers knew the guests of honor would not attend.

Isabel Vasquez was to turn 22 Monday. She went to Providence with family, friends and her handsome beau, 21-year-old Alexis A. Correa Jr. Saturday night to celebrate. He bought new clothes for a Saturday night of clubbing. She wore a new blue dress.

When the night drew to a close, they hopped into a car driven by their designated driver, 26-year-old Andrew Hilow of Worcester. The night of celebration turned tragic when a wrong-way driver went into the path of the couple's car on Route 146 in Lincoln, R.I., killing them and seriously injuring Mr. Hilow. It happened shortly before 3 a.m. Sunday.

The wrong-way driver, a Rhode Island man, died in the crash. He was unlicensed. He took a mother away from a young child and cut short a passionate, budding relationship.

"She needs to raise her daughter. Her daughter needs that mother," Ms. Vasquez's mother said, at times weeping uncontrollably. "She will never play with her again. She will never hear her, see her."

Mr. Correa was in the front seat and wearing his seat belt. Ms. Vasquez was in the back, but wasn't wearing a seat belt. Her mother couldn't understand why, considering her daughter always wore it.

Salvador Vasquez said he can't understand why someone would drive without a license and on the wrong side of the road, taking the life of his daughter and her boyfriend.

The couple were happy. They had both attended Doherty Memorial High School. They also worked for Walmart. Mr. Correa worked at the West Boylston Walmart, and his girlfriend of roughly a year drove him to work often. Ms. Vasquez had graduated from Salter College and was on her way to being a chef.

They had lived together in an apartment in the city, but recently they lived with their parents, both in Worcester. The couple was saving up for an apartment.

Their relationship made Mr. Correa's father, Alexis A. Correa Sr., smile. Ms. Vasquez and his son would play Xbox together; she would cook bacon cheeseburgers for him. Their relationship reminded him of his early days with his wife and his son's mother, Elizabeth Correa.

Mr. Correa tried college at Troy University in Alabama, but homesickness brought him back to Worcester. A former track and football player in high school, Mr. Correa loved football and frequently played flag football for his father's teams. An injury took away his senior football season.

Mr. Correa had been living at home for the past few weeks. Mrs. Correa said she cherished that time. Ms. Vasquez's 1-year-old daughter, Nayliani, is a beautiful little child, the Correa family said. The young couple was a perfect fit.

"They were meant to be together," Mrs. Correa said. "In that short time they got to be so close."

Both parents learned of their child's death Sunday. The Correa family rushed to the Rhode Island hospital.

"I got to hold my son's hand. I got to kiss his face," Mrs. Correa said. "I'm hoping for him to walk through that door."

Mr. Correa, the baby brother of two older sisters, never held back his feelings for his parents. His father's tears were shielded Monday by dark sunglasses as he recalled his son's loving hugs.

"He would give us kisses. He would say he loved us," Alexis Correa Sr. said.

Ms. Diaz had to be held up at times as she arrived at the celebration. She knows the pain of seeing one of her daughters injured. Her daughter Yaritza Diaz was permanently injured at age 9 in a personal watercraft accident on Indian Lake in 2007. The girl, now a teenager, is still in a rehabilitation facility, not speaking and able to move only some of her body.

Mr. Correa doted on Ms. Vasquez's daughter. He treated her like she was his own.

"I was happy and the family was happy," Ms. Diaz said. "She found a good man, a really good man."

Now, Ms. Diaz said, she will raise her granddaughter with the help of her daughter's seven siblings. Family of Ms. Vasquez is trying to raise funds for the funeral and for her daughter.

As friends and family chatted, recalling memories of the two lives cut short, both families had some resolve, knowing their children made an impression on people. Pictures of the couple together awaited people as they walked into the celebration of life.

"They're together right now," Alexis Correa Sr. said. "They are those beautiful angels looking down on us right now. We will struggle for a little bit."